Page 9 - World Health Organization

Urgently address gaps in leprosy services disrupted by Covid pandemic: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday urged countries, especially those in the South-East Asia Region, to urgently address gaps in leprosy services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The global health organisation asked these countries to accelerate efforts towards achieving the goal of zero leprosy disease, stigma and discrimination -- the vision of the WHO Global Leprosy Strategy 2021-2030. Leprosy is 100 per cent curable when detected early, yet today in addition to COVID-19-related challenges, stigma and discrimination, both institutionalised and informal, continue to impede prompt diagnosis and treatment and facilitate onward spread, said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director of WHO South-East Asia. "This has to change, she said on the eve of World Leprosy day. In 2021, 1,40,000 new leprosy cases were reported, with 95 per cent of new cases coming from the 23 global priority countries. Of these, 6 per cent were diagnosed with visible deformities or grade-2 ...

WHO hail India's G20 Presidency; say it should be a beacon for others

A WHO official termed India's presidency at the G20 Health Working Group meeting as an "exciting moment in history" and said it has bolstered the voice of the Global South

WHO issues fresh Covid-19 guidelines; here's all you need to know

WHO has updated its guidelines on wearing masks in community settings, Covid-19 treatments, and clinical management

Uzbekistan cough syrup case: Production licence of Marion Biotech suspended

The production licence of Noida-based pharmaceutical firm Marion Biotech, allegedly linked with the deaths of children in Uzbekistan, has been suspended while the results of its controversial cough syrup are awaited, an Uttar Pradesh drug official said Thursday. A team of central agencies and the Uttar Pradesh drug department had carried out an inspection at the firm's office here on December 29 and taken six more samples for testing. During the inspection, the company representatives could not produce documents related to the production of 'Dok-1 max' cough syrup, prompting the government to order halting of its production immediately, Gautam Buddh Nagar Drug Inspector Vaibhav Babbar said. "The production licence of the firm remains suspended, as was ordered on December 29. Now the suspension order has been issued in writing to the firm on January 10 and has been acknowledged by the firm," Babbar told PTI. On the status of the test results, the officer said the samples were taken

WHO warns against use of 'substandard' cough syrups linked to Uzbek deaths

"The substandard products referenced in this Alert are unsafe and their use, especially in children, may result in serious injury or death," said WHO

China threatens tit for tat over Covid-19 curbs on its travellers

Up to 70% of Shanghai population infected with coronavirus: Top doctor

LIVE: Oppn should work in a coordinated manner for 2024, says Rahul Gandhi

Live news updates: "My main focus right now is for a united India, we should fight against hatred. My focus is only to unite India," he said.

Amid Covid resurgence, China's hospitals seem to be filling up: WHO

The top health official's remarks come despite Chinese authorities saying that the number of people in hospitals due to Covid-19 are "relatively low"

Chinese cities give out free fever drugs as Covid infections flare

The head of the World Health Organization said it is concerned about the spike in infections and is supporting the government to focus on vaccinating those at the highest risk

Global cholera surge likely accelerated by climate change, warns WHO

Available data points to cases of infection in around 30 countries, whereas in the previous five years, fewer than 20 countries reported infections, on average

Covid global health emergency hopefully ends next year, says WHO chief

He added, however, that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the culprit behind the Covid-19 pandemic, will not go away

Covid-19 disruption resulted in 63,000 more malaria deaths, says WHO

The coronavirus pandemic interrupted efforts to control malaria, resulting in 63,000 additional deaths and 13 million more infections globally over two years, according to a report from the World Health Organisation published on Thursday. Cases of the parasitic disease went up in 2020 and continued to climb in 2021, though at a slower pace, the UN health agency said on Thursday. About 95 per cent of the world's 247 million malaria infections and 619,000 deaths last year were in Africa. We were off track before the pandemic and the pandemic has now made things worse, said Abdisalan Noor, a senior official in WHO's malaria department. Alister Craig, dean of biological sciences at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, noted that progress in reducing malaria deaths had stalled even before COVID-19. It is almost as if we have reached a limit of effectiveness for the tools we have now, said Lister, who was not linked to the WHO report. Noor said he expected the wider rollout of th

Covid emergency phase closer to end but Omicron transmission remains: WHO

The reason behind is that "Omicron has proved to be significantly more transmissible than its predecessor, Delta, and continues to cause significant mortality due to the intensity of transmission"

Cyber aggression, sexual abuse WHO's key focus to keep children safe online

The report titled "What works to prevent online violence against children," showcases strategies and best practices to better protect children

State govts on overdrive to vaccinate as measles outbreaks spread

Outbreaks have been reported in several states including Maharashtra, Kerala, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Haryana

Monkeypox: WHO announces 'mpox' to be used as synonym for the disease

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that it will now begin to use a new preferred term "mpox" as a synonym for monkeypox

Measles becomes 'an imminent global threat' due to Covid pandemic: WHO

The WHO and the US CDC said that measles immunization had dropped significantly since the Covid pandemic began, resulting in a record high of nearly 40 million children missing measles dose last yr

Mystery of the missing millions: Why UN projects higher India population

Its estimate of India's population by the end of the decade is 41 mn higher than TGPP's 1.47 billion

WHO looking to rename monkeypox to 'MPOX', reports US newspaper

The World Health Organization (WHO) is looking to rename monkeypox to "MPOX" to destigmatize the virus, according to a US newspaper report

Cervical cancer fourth most common among women, says WHO official

Dr Singh said that WHO has called for action in several key areas to achieve the elimination target of four or less cases per 100,000 women